The Memories Within
by Dita Lanquor
Summary: Sasha has found her way to the Xavier Institute to get some control of her newly found abilities; however, Logan and Sasha have forgotten each other in the cloudy mess of their minds after all these years. Sequel to "I Live Through Your Love".
1. Prologue

Author Note: So my imagination could not pull away from this couple. Sasha wanted out, so I let her!

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men...sadly...but I do own my OC, so there.

The thick smoke of cigarettes filled the bedroom of the Neuropsychiatrist that hindered her ability to see what was in her room. The door was closed, the curtains drawn, and she was sick to her stomach as she thought back to the yelling and screaming that brought her down in this mood. She removed the burning white cigarette from her lips and leaned over as if she was going to heave; however, her stomach was as empty as a hollowed out log. Her mind wanted her to cry, oh how she wanted to cry, but she was all out of tears. Why did she even act like that if she could not emotionally take it?

_Baby…_

Mental images of him flashed in her skull causing her to hold the shirt in her arms tighter as she rocked and opened her mouth in a silent wail. Was this it? Should she have just ended her life since she felt too incomplete without him? She rocked harder and shook her head to try and change what her frontal lobe was trying to reason through in her head. Rainbows, unicorns, butterflies, a magical forest that was filled with animals like her cats and she was the queen fairy of the forest that kept it safe and protected. The pretty fairy had a perfect world until she saw that mortal woodsman that let her see the dark, primal side of life. God damn it! No! Out! Her own mind was betraying her, this is blasphemy! To numb her mind and quiet those raging synapses, she took another long drag of the stick of tobacco in her hands and felt the trembling of her muscles slowing to a halt. Now she felt herself getting some control of her mind and returned to thinking about her fairy princess forest fantasy as she lit the last cigarette in her second box.

Outside of her bedroom door, her cats waited for her. She could hear them both scratching at the wood and trying to dig their way under the door to check and see if their master was okay. No, there was no way that their master was okay, and she knew she was well on her way to a being in the same hospital that she worked at day in and day out. The dark haired woman leaned back in the chair she sat in, her eyes locking on to the fancy ceiling fan that was producing a nice breeze in the room. As she blinked, she slipped in and out of the real world; first swearing that she could hear the temperate sounds of lovemaking in the room, then switching to the wild sounds of a beast grunting in their sleep. She closed her eyes fully, pleading her temporal lobe to just make the sounds stop; he was not going to haunt her, not like this. Even though they were apart, she had to make things right for her to be allowed some closure in her life since this was wrecking on her mentally to the point of making her wish she could just crack. There was way too much going for her to allow herself to break, and she always wanted to be the bigger man without his approval.

The moment Sasha cracked open the door, her cats surrounded her legs and wrapped themselves around them to beg and ask for attention. The depressed woman reached down to pet the fluffy cats, a tear falling from her eye since she finally felt wanted and needed after their separation. The summer sun in British Columbia was incredibly bright today, almost blinding her when she looked out the large windows in her living room. She had to be brave and just get it all over with since this sun was giving her a horrible headache. Once more, she gave her love to her fluffy babies and made a wish on them that she would have been strong enough to let him go before jogging down the stairs and running out the door.

Sasha had no idea where that man could have been. Hell, if anything he was probably in Alaska by now, but the first place she checked was his job site. The moment she hit 97 going northbound, she was almost running people off of the road. People avoided making eye contact with her in fear that she would ram her monster of a truck into the side of their miniscule vehicles. Not even the police officers that she tailgated and sped ahead of wanted to deal with her in fear of risking their lives. As she drove, she could feel her mind going into those dark places that she always kept under wraps when dealing with that mutant. She saw him in bed with another woman, treating that stranger the same way he used to treat her; the thought causing her to tightly grip the leather on the steering wheel and a headache form in the middle of her skull. She almost ran a family of four off the road to take an exit she had almost missed from her mind was distracting her from watching the road. The moment she got off the highway, it was like she put the pedal to the metal, going nearly double the speed limit on the two lane road.

A large chain link fence divided those who worked within from outsiders. The gate was usually open, but to actually get where the men were working, one would have to check in at a trailer before going off to their assigned spots. Sasha kicked up dirt as she parked her truck, almost forgetting to turn the behemoth off before running to the check in trailer in hopes that somebody had seen him.

"Logan! Where is he?" she screamed as she beat open the door.

The men nearly jumped from their office chairs and stared at the bare-footed woman who had barged in and intruded on the clock. Sasha was not pleased at the stares of confusion for to her they symbolized unawareness.

She hated that stare.

"Hey, morons," she snapped her fingers a few times once she slammed the aluminum door behind her. "Where is the man with the temper?"

A man with fiery red hair, matching mustache, and pale white skin stood up from his desk, removing the cowboy hat upon his head.

"Lil' lady," the man had an obvious Southern American accent to his voice. "You'd best be calm'n yerself down n' take'n a breather! Now I been hung out with that fellow before, we usedta' drink together. I ain't seen him no recently though, no records of him checking in."

That hardened woman felt her heart begin to break which caused her demeanor to crumble at her feet. "Are you sure? Have you checked?"

The man sat back down and turned to his computer screen, scrolling a few times before stopping and scanning the screen. He closed his eyes and shook his head, "Sorry lil' lady, he ain't been fo' a'while."

She could feel her fingers ball into fits, a growl of anger and disappointment as press through her teeth as she slammed the door behind her to storm to her truck. Tightness in her chest and stomach began to grow and exploded the moment she shut the door to her truck. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! She felt herself repeating to herself as she pummeled her steering wheel, tears running down her face. When the wheel would not budge, she started the vehicle and drove off to her next spot as tears ran down her face. Like the night after that argument, she was hysterical and barely able to take a breath as she sped to the bar she had met Logan at the second time their paths crossed. It was there he took her heart, and it was there that she would have to go and relive that fateful day in her mind.

Hope was in her heart that he would be in there shooting pool with a toothpick dangling from his mouth, just like the time she had actually spent some time with him. However, it was no use, nobody had seen the man in a long time, and she held her head in defeat. Again, she felt that knot forming in her torso, but this time it moved up her throat to her head, where the headache grew to feel like a throbbing mass underneath her frontal bone. The last place she would look was the one place he liked to be alone. It was a lookout point that gave one the best view of the mountains and forest below. She wanted to get horses just so she could ride down the cliff, but had never gotten around to it.

At the lookout point, it was lonely and vacant. The wind blew and tossed her hair from one side to another, carrying with it the scent of the pine around her. She inhaled deeply and called out his name from the point, hoping that he would hear her and return to her so they could fix what she messed up on. Maybe get back together again and start anew? The only thing she heard was the echo of her voice bouncing back to rattle the tympanic membrane inside of her ear and register that it was nothing but her voice. She could not help but begin to cry for her was gone from her life and it was her fault. It was all her fault, and there was no way she could make it up to him. Images of her and Logan together, full of bliss, flashed in her mind. The bliss turned into passion, and then the passion turned into pain. It was like her mind wanted to make her remember what she had and what she had lost.

_Stop it._

The images ran by faster, voices meshing together to create a symphony of emotions.

_Stop it now._

It was like her mind wanted to make she knew what she had lost.

"SHUT UP!" she felt herself scream before her world turned white.


	2. Chapter 1

Kitty Pryde sat in the kitchen eating an apple and reading over her large pile of notes. A test was tomorrow in her History class, and the last thing she wanted to do was get a less than perfect score on it. With Apocalypse gone, she could now focus on her studies and getting her grades back up to A's since before she was dropping to high B's in a few of her courses. The girl was very short in stature, petite as well, which added to her look of innocence. The high ponytail she fashioned, bangs falling to frame her face added to the soft-child like features that displayed her youth. However, once you got to know her, that innocent-girl act was a thing of the past due to her laid-back nature. She was a party girl who only liked to party because life sucked and adults sucked, the average teenage mindset.

The words on her notes began to blend together. She was getting the signing of the Constitution mixed up with the date that Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas and decided that she would go blind if she kept thinking. Her crystal blue eyes looked up from the binder to outside, where she saw a dark red convertible pull through the front gate of the school. At first she thought that it was just Scott, but upon further inspection of the car as it drove to the front, she noticed that the convertible was much larger than Scott's little two-door coup. She sprung from the table and ran through the halls screaming for anybody that would listen.

"What is it Kitty?" a voice with a thick German accent spoke after her appeared out of thin air in front of her.

"Kurt! There's like a totally hot ride coming up to the mansion!" she grabbed the young man around her age by the arm and dragged him through walls to a good viewing area that was out of sight to the person in the vehicle.

Kurt was confused, but his jaw dropped with shock once he saw the obviously expensive convertible sitting in front of the Institute's doors. The German youth tapped at the glass with two of his fingers as if they were one.

"That is no regular car. Scott's ride has nothing on that," he chuckled.

"Dude!" Kitty shouted as she saw the door open to reveal the driver of the car.

The woman was obviously much older than the two gawking in the window, but still showed signs of a mature youth. She was tall, long limbed, and slender with a nice contour in her chest and hips. The woman's dark, violet-navy hair was pulled up high on her head with a hair clip, her thick bangs pulled to the side of her forehead. Her face had sharp European features, but she was also blessed with features of other races like high cheekbones, supple lips, and a rounded but solid jaw. Black sunglasses shielded her eyes from the sun, but the woman made them match with her outfit that she wore which was simply a white dress shirt she had tied under her breasts, sleeves rolled to her elbows, with a black camisole underneath. Kitty was in love with this woman and had to see her up close to try and imitate her style. She watched how the woman, even though she was wearing four-inch wedge heels, gracefully walk to the front door with carrying two duffle bags in her hands.

"Kurt! We have to get down there without her seeing us! I wanna see her up close." Kitty slammed her hand down on the German boy's back.

"Ow! Not so hard, ja?" he held her hand and teleported the two to a hidden spot in the foyer that they could spy on the woman.

The doorbell rang a few times, the two friends tucked away, as they watched the light-brown haired Bobby Drake come to answer the door. They could tell that he was stunned stupid when he saw the woman behind the front door. He could barely get out the words, "Can I help you?" before she raised the black glasses from her face to reveal her bright emerald eyes to him.

"Is Professor Xavier here?" her voice was smooth and jazzy with a very small, barely noticeable French accent. Bobby never stood a chance.

The Iceman stood in front of the door, trying to find the words to say to her before raising his index finger and going to Xavier's office to retrieve him. The woman then came inside of the mansion and sat the two bags down to inspect her ruby red nails and the rings on most of her fingers.

"I don't think it's really-…" Kurt was interrupted by the quick wit of the girl beside him.

"Shh! Don't mess this up!"

Professor Xavier appeared from one of the halls and went to confront the tall woman with Hank McCoy and Ororo Munroe by his side.

"Dr. Neville, I presume?" Charles was always charismatic when it came to introductions, holding out his hand and giving her a warm smile.

The woman held out her hand to take the Professor's and shook it before pulling herself into him and kissing him on the cheek as if he was family.

"Dr. Neville is my work name, call me Sasha."

The heavily muscled man covered in blue fur perked up, "Wait, are you _the _Sasha Neville? It's me, Hank McCoy."

Sasha looked confused, synapses trying to bring together images of where she had seen this mutant before or heard his name.

"Hank McCoy, I remember a McCoy at a Chemistry convention but-…"

The teacher rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from her, "that's me, my dear."

She covered her mouth in surprise before wrapping her arms around his neck in a warm and loving embrace, kissing his cheek as she did to Charles. "Oh Mr. McCoy! Never thought I would see you again after that conference, how have you been?"

Hank smiled, it was nice to have somebody see past his exterior, "I've been…better. We must chat later."

Sasha smiled and winked, "let's."

"Well now," Charles folded his hands in front of his chest in the suave fashion he always did so. "Shall we go take a seat and discuss?"

As Sasha was about to grab the two bags she had with her, Hank had reached down to pick them up and sling them over his shoulder. She smiled to him and rubbed his shoulder before following the Professor to his office.

Kitty and Kurt phased from their hiding spot and watched the new mutant walk down the hall. The thin, blue haired boy was shocked by the way she looked and acted since she was the last image that a doctor would ever have. He looked to Kitty who was obviously in love and swooning over the new recruit, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the menacing air of Wolverine appear behind them. Kurt jumped a little and felt himself curl under the watchful glare of Logan's piecing brown eyes.

"What are you up to, elf?" the thicker man grunted, his hands balled into tight fists.

"Ah!" Kurt stuttered, scratching the back of his head. "Nothing Logan, we are just talking, you know, like what friends do!"

Logan's face twisted into a scowl since he knew they were hiding something from him. This time it was Kitty to break their sneaky streak.

"We have a new recruit and she's totally awesome! She's got a nice ride, and she looks like a movie star, can't wait to get to meet her." The half pint was like a fan girl, fluttering like crazy as if this person was some fancy politician.

The older man growled and inhaled the air in the room. His olfactory receptors picked up the different scents he knew, Charles, Ororo, Hank, half pint, and elf; however, one scent was not registering in a mental image. His eyes closed to try and dissect the smell; however, he found an image of his face buried in a person's neck flash on the back of his eyelids. The image was making his stomach churn and his chest ache, what the hell was that and who was this so called 'new recruit'? His eyes opened and he felt his body starting to sweat; Kitty and Kurt looking concerned for the older male.

"Mr. Logan, are you okay?" Kitty asked.

Logan shook his head and growled, "I'm fine! I'll be doin'…something." With that he turned his back towards the two teenagers to go about his own business. The teens watched him leave in a more unstable mood than what he usually was, but shrugged and planned on a way to get closer to Charles's office for some secret spying on the new woman.


	3. Chapter 2

Laughter rang from the door of the Professor's office from the adults inside as if the group had known each other for years. The two doing most of the chatting was Hank and Sasha who were rekindling memories from the Convention that they had met.

"I remember, oh, who was it? Dr. Highmore was presenting a 'hands on' presentation about some organic chemicals, I have no idea what, but one of the spectators sabotaged their ex-wife's materials." Sasha spoke, crossing her legs and leaning forward in the leather sofa.

"Oh no, is that why we had to evacuate the convention center? I was in the middle of lunch with a few of my colleagues when that happened!" Hank shook his head and covered his face. "Do you know what he used?"

"Yeah, coffee."

Hank uncovered his face and gave a hearty laughter causing her to join in as they clapped and enjoyed the good times they shared that week about a year ago. The two of them came into contact after a few of the guests got together and celebrated being away from their jobs for a week down in warm and sunny Miami, Florida. All they had to do at the Chemistry Convention was take a few notes and act like they were paying some attention so they could take back their findings to their jobs and expand on the research already done. Even though Sasha had little background in Chemistry, Alice, a close friend of hers, wanted her to come along so that she would not be going to the big city of Miami by herself. Sasha had ended up flirting with Hank at the guests' party and hit it off in an instant. One thing led to another, causing them to become close at the convention and bond during the convention; however, their bond was partially broken once Sasha had to return back to Canada and Hank to New York. The two had lost contact over time and the both of them were still mentally shocked that had found each other like this. Everybody in the room could feel that the two had gotten closer than just friends, especially Charles; however, the Professor did not want to embarrass his colleague.

"So tell me, Mr. McCoy. I didn't know you were a mutant. Why the sudden plastic surgery?" a smile crept over her lips as if she was attempting to soften a possibly crushing blow to his self esteem.

Hank lowered his head, "if I had gotten this for plastic surgery, I would have demanded my money back. But seriously, this is what I look like, honest. The human appearance was something to allow me to teach doing what I love."

She raised an eyebrow, "Why should they care how you look? You're doing a good job, so you should be allowed to stay?"

"Mutants aren't exactly welcomed here in the states, Sasha. I didn't believe that they were widely accepted in Canada either. Perhaps I am wrong?" Charles intervened.

"Well," Sasha scratched the back of her head in thought. "I have little evolvement outside of the university and the hospital, but I mean…things up there aren't exactly like they are down here."

"I take it you have seen the news?" Ororo added.

"I was sitting in the airport for about two hours before my flight took off. Let's just say, I really don't understand American politics."

Hank shrugged, "might be best. Even Americans don't understand American politics."

"So, Sasha," Charles spoke. "What brings you here to us? We spoke over the phone, but I would love to hear your side." It was not like he did not already know. The moment he had passed into the foyer, he could feel a sudden spike in his abilities, none that Cerebro had ever caused in him before.

The doctor began to rub her temples. "I'm displaying psionic abilities, and I really don't understand why. My research has shown that mutant abilities appear much earlier, around the age of puberty; as you all can see, puberty has come and gone in my life. Although, once I hit puberty, I used to get horrible migraines, until I was about 18, then they all seemed to go away. I deduced that it was hormones that were finally calming down, but then I started to get them again a few years ago. "

Charles wheeled himself closer to the Doctor, feeling his power increase even more the closer he got to her. "May I take a closer look?"

Sasha nodded and relaxed against the leather sofa even though she had little to no idea what he was planning to do to her. The professor closed his eyes and held two fingers as he stimulated his psionic ability of telepathy to probe her unconscious thought. He felt himself leave his own body and attempt to travel inside her head; however, he was met with a wall that he was unable to break. The harder he tried to penetrate, the thicker and taller the wall became. Charles sat back in his wheelchair and opened his eyes to look at Sasha who was just lying back as if she was about to be pampered.

"Interesting…" Charles muttered to himself.

Ororo walked over to the Professor, "Charles what is wrong?"

Sasha had opened her eyes and sat back up, a look of dread on her face as if she was being diagnosed with a fatal disease.

"It is strange, but it seems to me as if her psionic abilities act in a defensive nature for her; however, you all might have noticed your abilities much more robust from just being around her. I believe her aura acts as a constant energy boost to all who are mutants."

"And to non-mutants?" Hank asked.

Charles folded his hands over his chest and positioned himself so that the two other mutants in the room could feel part of the conversation. "I would theorize that to humans she would feel like a constant cup of coffee being given to people."

"Oh darn, if only you worked with me, Sasha. You would have really helped me get through the day from grading papers and waking up super early." Hank poked fun at the new mutant, he knew she was scared, and this might have gotten her mind off of it.

Sasha crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her tongue out at the blue-furred man.

"Do you still want to stay, Sasha? Our doors are open to you if you still wish. I will do my best to get your powers under control since you speak of them bothering your personal health." The Professor asked.

Sasha looked down at her hands, "Of course Charles, I would love to stay. I want to use these powers for something since they exist in me."

The Professor smiled, "let's have you meet the other students then. I promise, you will feel quite welcome here."

The doctor stood up from the sofa and stretched to follow the Professor out the door followed by the other two mutants in the room, Hank collecting the two bags she had brought in. Ororo put her hand on Sasha's shoulder to get her attention as they walked down the hall.

"You do not need to feel afraid. We are all a family here."

Sasha placed her hand on the African woman's and smiled to her, "I like how warm it felt when I first got here. I think I'm going to enjoy myself here."

By the time the adults had entered the foyer, all the members of the Xavier institute who were nearby now waited for why they were summoned. Before Charles even had the ability introduce their newest member, Kitty and Kurt were telling everything they had saw about her to the people who wanted to listen. Even Bobby was agreeing with them even though he had only seen her for a few moments before he had to open the door. Charles raised an eyebrow at the teenagers who obviously could not keep their mouths shut and cleared his throat to get their attention. The three turned their heads to see the Professor staring at them with a disapproving glare causing them to snap back into shape.

"Well now, I guess you have now all heard of our newest member because of a few X-men who wanted to talk instead of holding the news until now. Everybody, meet Sasha Neville, Dr. Sasha Neville." Charles moved aside to allow the tall woman to appear from behind them.

She smiled and waved to everybody as if she was a perfect angel in disguise. Logan was a bit late to the introduction for he was in the middle of working on his bike. Oil covered his hands and a frown was on his face until he hit that unknown smell again. As he walked into the foyer with the other students he saw who was reeking of that unknown smell. It just seemed to roll off of her body and surround and envelop his senses as if it wanted to hypnotize him.

"Who is this?" Logan grunted, sliding the oil covered rag in his pocket before getting closer to take a better look. His eyes started at her feet and trailed up her legs, watching her shift her weight from one leg to another before his eyes made a path from her hips and waist to her face.

"Sasha. Sasha Neville. And you are?" she crossed her arms over her chest and licked her upper lip.

Logan shifted the toothpick in his mouth and stared at her as if he was trying to piece where he had seen that face before. His stomach was doing back flips like it was before, but he was not going to let a little nausea break him.

"Man of little words? How quaint." A chuckle came from her lips before she shifted her weight once more and cocked her head to the side.

His nostrils flared before he spun on his heels to leave and go back to doing his own thing. Charles was not going to let the man throw a mental fit, so he acted quickly to force Logan to make nice.

"Logan and Scott, would you mind helping Sasha with her bags please? We have a wonderful room next to the adults so you don't have to be bothered by the students getting ready in the morning." The Professor looked to her with a large smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. I don't need you, one-eye. I got this myself." Logan pushed passed the rest of the students with an obvious chip on his shoulder.

Ororo shook her head, "he has no idea what you came here in, does he?"

"Nope." Sasha took the two bags from Hank and threw them on her shoulder as she sashayed out the door with confidence that she had mentally gotten to him.


	4. Chapter 3

It was the beginning of a new week at the Xavier institute that was marked by the simultaneous ringing, buzzing, singing, and talking of all the students' alarms that went off. Groggy teenagers rolled out of bed to, unhappily, greet the day with yawns, a few choice words and gestures, and eruptions of emotions at the realization that one may have forgotten about an assignment that was due today. Monday mornings were always the hardest to get through since everything seemed to drag, especially this Monday since the students had spent so much time with the newest member to join the X-men. It actually took Scott coming down and telling everybody to go to bed.

Kitty rolled out of bed and hit the floor with an audible thud, hopefully not bothering anybody down below. She groaned and prayed that classes would have been canceled today due to teachers not up to dealing with rowdy kids. Her radio lied to her as the person on the other side was giving a report on how bright and sunny the day was that would just seem to make everybody's problems go away. Except for hers because she had to go to class and take that history test. She grabbed a towel from a chair and threw it over her shoulder before phasing through her wall to go take a nice hot shower to wake her up. As she dragged her feet down the run of carpet on the floor, she passed by a group of some of the boys who were all gathered around a window looking in the backyard.

"Hey," she pushed in between Kurt and Bobby to get a better view. "What are you all staring at?"

Sasha was out in the yard doing odd and what looked like to be very painful stretches with her legs. Her eyes were closed, headphones in her ears, in her own little world of personal fitness and getting ready for the day. Kitty turned her head to one side as she watched her lift her leg off the ground behind her to a perfectly straight line with her bottom one. The younger girl shook her head and pushed past the boys again to go back to what she was doing.

"You all are totally weird! I hope you boys realize that we have school today, so don't be late." She broke their circle of male-nature before going off to get ready for the day.

Bobby mocked her causing the other boys to start to crack up laughing and joining in with the teasing as well. Once Kitty had stormed off, the angry and tough girl mutant named Rogue came storming down the hall and singled out Bobby, knocking him back by pushing on his forehead with the heel of her hand. The other boys stopped their laughing before scattering to hide instead of dealing with the wrath of Rogue. The older girl did not even respond once Bobby was on the ground, she just continued walking to just get on with her day. The icy mutant mumbled a few words under his breath before getting back up to see if Sasha was still there in conspicuous poses, but she was long gone.

Sasha had returned from her run at the time when the students were speeding off in their cars to get to class on time. She was almost run over by Kitty's sporadic driving as she lit up a cigarette that she always had after her jog. As healthy as she looked, it was the stick of tobacco that cooled her body down. The Weather Witch was tending to the plants around the fountain in front of the school. The flowers were radiating a smell that just enveloped her nostrils and sent firings of bliss throughout her body.

"Ororo, these smell amazing. How in the world do you do it?" she spoke, burying her face within the myriad of colors and odors.

Ororo smiled and continued to water the plants, "a little tender love and care along with a nice shower always brightens them up. They are always ready for a wonderful day."

Sasha took another drag of her cigarette before taking another whiff, "and today is a wonderful day. I wish you lived by me, I bet you could make this tree that I have in my yard show its true colors."

"What kind of tree is it? I might be able to help you out on having it grow stronger."

Sasha stood up and tapped the ash from her cigarette on the dirt road, "some kind of oak tree, I believe. It's really pretty when autumn comes and all the leaves on the trees start to change." Her eyes glazed over as she started to slip back to her home in British Columbia. "Out of all the trees, that oak always had the best colors that would just flourish the moment the weather started to change. Vivid reds, iridescent yellows, and breathtaking oranges, my favorite thing is just to sit in bed on my days off and just watch nature."

Ororo smiled, "it is very peaceful, isn't it? On your free time, let me teach you a few things about the land, so that you can bring beauty wherever you go in life."

Sasha looked away and blushed, "I don't think so, in terms of nature, I'm naturally inept at it."

"We are all inexperienced at first, but with practice, we learn to tend and grow accordingly." The Weather Witch grabbed a handful of fertile soil and let it seep in between her fingers.

Jean Grey, a red-headed young woman with long hair came to join the two women. She had a kind face and emerald eyes just like Sasha did which shocked the doctor that they had so much in common except that the Doctor was just a tad taller and her hair was darker and a bit longer. Sasha plucked the tobacco from her lips and blew a column of smoke into the air before sticking it back between her lips. Jean held out her ring covered hand to shake the Doctor's hand since they did not get a chance to meet yesterday.

"Hi there, you must be Doctor Neville. I'm Jean Grey, sorry I didn't get to see you yesterday. Busy with the family!" Jean's smiling face was filled with warmth that Ororo herself had.

Sasha firmly grasped the fellow mutant's hand and pulled her close to kiss her cheek as if she was family, "I completely understand the whole family thing. Nice to meet you too."

Jean nodded, "Professor Xavier was wondering if you would like to get started with your training Sasha."

"I would love too. I'm woken up and feel great."

Inside the institute, Jean led the newest member down to one of the many practice rooms that sat around for students to use and practice their powers by themselves or with somebody. Charles and Hank had prepared one of the practice rooms with a series of tests to watch and study how Sasha used and manipulated their powers, especially with the help of another telepath. The two psionic women sat facing each other at a table with a simple rubix cube between them. They both had their hands out, using only their telekinesis to solve the puzzle. Charles sat in the middle of the two so he could watch them and focus carefully on the young women's mental waves to see if they were able to keep their powers steady. Even though Sasha was obviously acting as an amplifier to Jean's powers and her own, Jean was able to keep steady and he hypothesized that Jean was even helping Sasha keep focus on the first try. At the same time, both of the women broke focus and opened their eyes to see that they had nearly finished the delicate work; however they were covered in sweat and were on the verge of mental exhaustion.

Sasha leaned over to rest her head on the heels of her hands due to feeling as if she hadn't slept in ages. "I never thought this would be so difficult."

Charles chuckled, "it is always challenging controlling your abilities; however, you are doing quite well, Sasha."

"Thanks Professor, I guess the meditation I do every morning is working out for me." Sasha replied, leaning back in her chair.

Jean got up from the table and got two glasses of water during their break. The violet haired psionicist thanked her before taking a drink. "Professor, it was strange. While Sasha and I had a telekinetic bond, I could feel her power going through my mental fingertips as we solved the puzzle. It was not like her and I was solving it as a partner, it was like we were solving it as a single entity."

"So my predictions were correct…" the Professor rested his forehead on his index fingers.

The girls looked confused as they looked to their teacher and then to Hank who had currently swung himself into the test chamber to pull up the results of the test. On the screen showed the wavelengths of Jean and Sasha as they worked with the puzzle. At first, Jean's wavelength spiked dramatically, indicating that Sasha's amplification abilities were working fine and well; after that initial spike, Jean's wavelength sustained a much higher amplitude than normally. The strange part came from Sasha's readings. Her amplitude and wavelength was sporadic to identify that she was trying to stabilize herself; however, once Jean got her powers going in a stable fashion, Sasha's telekinetic abilities ended up doing the same, mimicking Jean's mental waves.

"Fascinating." Hank replied, quickly taking notes on a legal pad.

Sasha looked confused as she tried to read the results, "I am guessing the high amplitudes are the depolarization of neurons; however, where is the hyperpolarization? Plus, Jean's graph looks relatively normal while mine looks like I am in the middle of a seizure."

"In a sense," Hank replied. "These graphs reflect your telekinesis in relation to a mental state of rest. The center line acts as the resting point, in a regular scan of brainwaves, you would pass the resting point; however, in this case you don't because you will always be at a heightened extent of neural activity while using your powers."

"I am guessing your mind actually keyed in to Jean's stable wave pattern and followed suit." Charles added on to the conversation, truly fascinated by his newest student.

"To be honest," Sasha leaned back in her chair. "In my research I have never seen psionic patterns like that. In most of my patients their patterns drop well below the resting potential before spiking back."

"Simply because they are unable to control their power for long periods of time; sustained periods of high activity means that one will be able to keep their powers going while sporadic activity will tire the user out much quickly," Charles replied.

"Ah, I see."

"Then Professor," Jean added in her own two cents. "Can you explain my sensation of Sasha's mental self guiding my hands along?"

Charles continued to look at the graphs on the screen, "that phenomenon I am unsure about; however, I would love to do a test to see how and if it works outside of the mind. Would you be up to it?"

Sasha smiled, "I'm all for learning in the name of science."

Logan was in the middle of practicing some basic martial arts' stances to keep his body in tip top shape; that is until he was interrupted by what seemed to be the nerd squad that was looking for a tough guy with average smarts to be their guinea pig. "You wanna do what to me?" Logan asked, a tinge of exasperation in his voice.

"Logan, I would like to see Sasha's defensive capabilities in action and I need somebody who is more physical than mental." Charles was calm about it, knowing that even though Logan would have played hard-to-sway, the most powerful telepath would always get his way.

Sasha stepped forward, her hand on her hip and giving him the same look as she did the first time they had met yesterday. He growled at her looking cocky towards him, obviously trying to rile him up. Not a very good idea if she wanted to use him in the name of science.

"You know I hate science experiments, Xavier." Logan's hands balled into fists, his adamantium claws extending from the fleshy area between his knuckles. "And I really hate mind games."

Charles smiled to him, "this will not take long, and you won't feel anything negative. If anything you will feel more energized from this."

The mutant sneered and turned his attention to his newest teammate who was now within arms distance of him. "You try anything funny…"

Sasha held her hands out in front of her and closed her eyes. "Trust me, I won't."

She controlled her breathing to the point that it was faint, but steady. Her power seemed to flow out through her fingertips and find its way into Logan's mind with ease. Logan felt so alive the moment she came near and he felt as if his strength was just tripled from her doing this. He looked to her, she looked as if she was not mentally there, but he was afraid to do anything just in case she was not ready. He looked down at his claws and fits, the pain from the claws had faded away; however just to check and make sure, he sheathed and extended the metal claws once more, and found that there was no pain at all from them. Logan looked to Charles who had simply nodded his head in approval that she was ready for him to do whatever. The mutant began to attack a nearby tree with ease. Every kick and every punch felt stronger and more powerful, but the energy did not take from his own reserves. This new mutant's abilities were making his life easier in terms of fighting since he felt like a child with endless amounts of energy.

Sasha had begun to levitate in the air to follow him so that she would not lose her bond with him. As the exercise continued, she was keeping her powers steady, even as Logan kept his momentum going; however, in her head, she saw flashes of places in her head. She felt her heartbeat begin to race and her breathing become sporadic, but she was not going to let herself break, she had to keep her concentration. The images began to flash faster. Her house, her job, her coworkers, her cats, her giant oak tree, all of the things she held near and dear to her heart was driving her over the edge of physical terror since she really did not know what was going on. She felt her power then turn back through her fingertips and slowly creep through her arms; however, it was not until Logan let out a bloodcurdling scream of anguish that she felt as if lightening had stuck her head causing her to scream out as well.

"Sasha!" Hank called out, quickly running to catch her as she was falling from the sky. Jean quickly used her powers to lower Sasha's descent. The moment Hank had her in his arms; he and Jean rushed back inside to give her medical attention to see if she was alright.

Charles had turned his attention to Logan who was down on one knee gasping for breath, covered in a layer of sweat and looked as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Logan, are-…"

"What the hell was that Charles?" the hot tempered mutant shouted, pushing himself off of the ground.

"Logan, I am not sure what that was. When we were doing this with Jean, everything was going fine. I do not understand why these results happened. Tell me, what did you feel?" He was calm and cool to try and ease Logan's boiled over temper.

Logan rested his hand on his forehead to try and ease the pain that was throbbing in his head, "I don't know. Images, flashes of things that I can't recall."

"Before the injury?"

"How the hell should I know? I told you I can't remember."

Charles began to probe Logan's mind to dissect what he had experienced. He could see the images of a nice house in the middle of the woods, his bike, and the perfect view of a large tree from, most likely, inside of the house. The telepath could feel strong emotions tied to the image of that tree, but he was not sure if they were true feelings, or just his own since the image did not stick around too long. Charles pulled himself out of the mutant's head to report his findings.

"Well?"

The telepath shook his head, "I'm not sure. All I'm seeing are fragments since the injury you sustained right before you came here has incapacitated your past memories. I must speak with Sasha before I can give my opinion, will you join?"

Logan growled a bit but shook his head, "no thanks. I need to get my head back on straight."

Charles respected the mutant's wishes and made his way back inside the manor, "I will be in the infirmary if you need me."

Hank had placed Sasha in one of the infirmary bed with Jean by her side to check and see if she was okay; he had run off to get some water for her so that she did not wake up and have a heart attack. Jean reached out with her hand to see if she could probe Sasha's mind to piece what had happened in her head; however, she was quickly blocked by an impenetrable wall and denied entry. Hank had came back just in time as Sasha began to stir from her mental anguish, stopping her from sitting up in the bed just in case something else was wrong.

"Hank…Jean, what the hell happened to me?" Sasha spoke, rubbing her eyes to try and block the lights from above her head.

Hank handed her the glass of water, "you had a little trouble while using your powers with Logan. I was recording the exercise the entire time, strange readings I must say."

Sasha smiled, "I hate hearing that, give it to me straight Doctor. Scientist to scientist, don't screw me over."

"Well," Hank cleared his throat. "Your readings were okay for awhile, until a strange spike, and then you became sporadic in your readings."

Charles had entered in the infirmary, relatively shocked to see Sasha awake and joking with the two mutants beside her bed. "Sasha, glad to see you are back with us. How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a bus."

"I believe the correct term would have been struck by lightning from what I saw out there. I spoke with Logan, he said that he saw images that he did not recall, what can you take out of that?" The telepath folded his hands in front of his chest.

Sasha sat up and looked up towards the lights on the ceiling, "I don't know what I saw. My house, my favorite oak tree that sits in my yard, my cats, things I know I hold near and dear to my heart, but then…" she looked at her hands. "It was like my powers turned on me to make me feel things I had never felt before. It was like a mixture of pleasure, pain, sadness, bliss, jealousy all hitting me at once."

"Did you experience this with Jean?"

"When I mentally bonded with Jean, it felt smooth and guided. It was as if Jean guided me to match her abilities." Sasha looked concerned, "what makes short, thick, and hairy so different?"

Charles chuckled, "my theory is that because Jean has advanced psionic abilities, she was able to keep you from her unconscious thoughts. Logan on the other hand, you might have slipped back in his unconscious thoughts which are distant from him because of his numerous head injuries."

In the Professor's head, he was piecing together what he had saw in the minds' of Logan and Sasha and he had a feeling that the two were bonded in a way that neither of them knew. Right now, it was not a good time to reveal his findings to either of them since they had both been through mental trauma and needed some time to recover. Charles closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he relished the memory of the giant tree he saw in Logan's head and matched it to Sasha's words of her oak tree.

He opened his eyes, "I will let you rest for the day. Please Sasha, do not strain yourself." He then turned his back to her and maneuvered his wheelchair to the door.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

By: Dita

The girls at the Xavier institution needed a break; after all, they had been working hard in their schooling and their training. Sasha had taken some of the girls out on a shopping trip around New York City, her treat, to all the hot spots that she researched about. Jean, Kitty, Amara, and even Rogue had all joined the older mutant on the trip, Sasha's treat. The girls of the X-men were all sitting outside of an Italian bistro eating lunch and enjoying the late Summer weather of New York, they were laughing and gossiping about the males that they lived around, and Sasha tried her hardest to not seem so much like a creepy cougar trying to get into the pants of younger boys.

Sasha lit up a cigarette and took a long drag, exhaling the smoke through her nose, "you girls are making me look like an old hag. There's nobody my age to flirt with there."

"Oh c'mon, Sasha! That's not true! You have Logan, and Mr. McCoy, and even the Professor if you catch my drift." Kitty exclaimed, taking a bite of a breadstick.

Sasha leaned back and crossed her legs, making a sound of disgust as she did so, "Mr. McCoy is like thirty-five, and isn't Logan and Charles in their forties almost fifty? I'm not that old…experience is good, but not that much."

Jean covered her face out of embarrassment to be around these girls, but they all knew that she was just joking. Sasha messed up the fellow telepath's hair and began to poke her fun at the good one of the group.

"Jean, look, we can't all be that lucky to have our Romeo just there for us." Sasha leaned close and began to make kissing sounds, mocking the interaction between a man and a woman.

"You guys are terrible!" Jean cried out, burying her bright red face in her hands.

"Is Scott going to beat me up?" Sasha stated, flicking the ash from her cigarette on to the ground. "Tell him to bring it. I'm trained in cry-baby fu, don't mess with me."

The girls began to laugh again; even Jean couldn't help but come out of her hands to show that she was having a good time and had to join in. "Well, Kitty, you can't exactly be making fun of me since you too have somebody you are interested in."

"Who?" Kitty played brain dead for a second; they always made fun of Lance Alvers who she was seeing off and on.

Rogue made a face as if she was sick on love like a bubble-headed school girl, "Lance, if ya remember."

"Oh! Oh, Lance, you see, well, it's like, uhm-…"

Sasha held her hand up, "I met Lance! And my ruling as head boy-crazy female of this, the Xavier Institute for Gifted Student, is," a sneer came upon her lips after she took a drag of her tobacco. "He's a bad boy."

"Lance is about as bad as eggs left out in the sun too long," Rogue replied.

"Not that kind of bad, but he's a fun one." Sasha smiled once more and winked toward the girls.

Kitty's face was as red as Jean's hair as they spoke about her crush. She angrily took a sip of her soda and looked like a turtle trying to tuck herself inside of her shell from the ring of laughter that the girls did.

"You guys suck…" the younger girl mumbled.

Sasha smiled before resting her cigarette in the ash tray and getting up to go to the bathroom to freshen up. Kitty stuck her tongue out at the older woman who swiftly raised her middle finger in the air as she walked inside the bistro. Her trip inside was cut short by a beast of a human body slamming through the door to tackle the much smaller Sasha to the ground. The man was enormous and carried a funk of raw meat and a lack of personal hygiene that burned the receptors in her nose. His dirty blonde hair was long, shaggy, and unkempt just like the rest of him with the rags being passed off as clothes covered his body. His eyes were brown and bloodshot, reminding her of a patient from an insane asylum.

"WOLVERINE!" he shouted in her face, the very odor of his breath nearly stunning her to death. "You REEK of his stench!"

Sasha tried to squirm free from his grasp; however it was no use as his black claws dug into the tight shirt she wore to pierce her skin. "Get off of me!"

Jean had stood up from the table and lifted the vile mutant from off of her friend using her telekinetic abilities and threw the man somewhere else.

"Gawh! Weird for Sabertooth to be the one to crash our party." Kitty replied as she ran to aid Sasha, who was wiping the dirt and debris off of shirt. "You alright?"

Sasha stood up carefully with Kitty's help, "yeah, I'm fine."

Sabertooth quickly got up and roared before charging towards Sasha, but he was quickly swept off of his feet by the efforts of the telepaths working together. They lifted him off of the ground and threw him into a stack of garbage cans to incapacitate him for a short time. The mundane citizens were in a panic, many of them making calls on their cell phones to the police, fire station, and possibly to the National Guard to control these mutants who were wrecking their day. It was not like it was on purpose, that giant fur ball struck the X-men first! However, they were going to fight back for their teammates. Jean and Sasha stood back to back and watched Sabertooth shake the garbage from his hair and stare down the violet haired telepath. Sasha's eyes narrowed which caused the rabid mutant to become fired up and charge at the girls. He had almost made it to him when he was stopped by a mutant dressed in an orange and black jumpsuit.

"Wolverine!" Kitty shouted as she watched him he fly off of his bike to tackle the much bigger man to the ground.

Sasha took her car keys out from her shirt and gave them to Jean. "I want you all to get out of here. We'll take care of it from here."

"No Sasha, I can't leave you here alone. We're X-men, we work together," Jean's leadership skills were always on par. Never abandoning her team, that's what being an X-man was all about.

Sasha smiled before levitating in the air and leaving Jean to do her own thing causing the red-head to jump into her role as a leader as she commanded the other girls to help keep Sabertooth off of Sasha and Wolverine. The violet haired telepath closed her eyes and held out her hands as if the was a puppeteer, looking for Wolverine's very mind to help guide and empower his abilities. The moment she found him, the two jerked up simultaneously before Wolverine unsheathed his claws and stood his ground.

"Let's dance, hairball!" Wolverine growled.

Sabertooth roared and tackled Wolverine to the ground with the desire to tear his insides out to see if he could oh-so spontaneously heal from an injury like that. However, the much larger mutant was met with surprise as Wolverine could now easily throw the feral beast off of him. As Sabertooth flew through the sky, Jean was there to catch him with her telekinetic abilities and proceed to launch the man into an empty bus stop shelter in hopes that he would stay down, but her hopes were quickly crushed when she saw the blonde man shake himself off and charge at Wolverine once more. Wolverine took on the challenge and began a full, head-on sprint towards Sabertooth to tackle him as if his was a line back. Once the two collided, Sabertooth thought he could take down the smaller mutant, but had underestimated once he felt Wolverine just plow right through him into an unoccupied vehicle where the smaller mutant lifted up his fist to give him five fingers and three adamantium claws of pain and hurt. Wolverine was stopped though once he saw Kitty phase Rogue's arm through the busted car to rest on Sabertooth's forehead. Wolverine held the feral mutant down as the mutant roared and squirmed like a beast being tranquilized and restrained.

Jean smiled at the sight of the X-men working together to take care of Sabertooth until the authorities arrived to handle the mutant. She looked up to the sky to check on the newest member to their team and saw, what looked like to be, Sasha's fingers twitching and locking up. Concern came upon her face; she quickly threw herself into the head of her comrade to find that her head was a swirling vortex of clouded memories and distorted voices. It was as if she was trying to discern what true memories in her head were and what was fantasy; how she wanted to help her friend so badly control her mind, but she was just as quickly shunted out of her mind and back into her own body. Jean opened her eyes and saw Sasha's body go limp in the sky causing Wolverine to let go of Sabertooth for he felt as if something had left him. The telepath called out to Wolverine causing him to look up at the sky to see Sasha slowly falling towards the ground. Wolverine positioned himself under her body and allowed Jean to lay her body in his arms before he got on one knee to support her. His world went quiet and slowed down for this all looked and felt familiar to him. The mutant's heartbeat quickened and he could hear every beat reverberate in his chest cavity as he tried his best to piece together where he had been in this situation before, especially with her; however, his time was quickly short lived due to Jean screaming his name and asking if Sasha was alright.

"C'mon Vi, come back to us." Wolverine's eyes narrowed due to the fact he called her Vi, where did he get that name from? There was a pain in his chest that grew the longer she was out as he held her close to his body, but he just thought of it as bruising from his battle with Sabertooth.

Wait, his bruises would have been long gone by now. He shook the thought of the pain from his head and turned his attention to Sasha.

"Jean! Is she going to be okay?" Kitty spoke up.

Jean shook her head, focusing on the slow rise and fall of Sasha's chest. "I'm really not sure. We should get her back to the Institute as soon as possible." The last thing she wanted to do as a leader was betray her fellow team member's trust by revealing what was in her head; so she kept that part out.

Wolverine stood up and laid Sasha in the back seat of her own convertible, Kitty and Amara jumping in the back to fan and cater to Sasha while Jean and Rogue sat up front.

"We'll see you at the manor, Logan." Jean spoke, starting the car before making her leave quickly to get Sasha some help.

Wolverine watched as the convertible drove away from him, his heart pounding in his chest not from the fight with Sabertooth, but the moment he felt her in his arms. There was something not right about her for he had never felt his body actually experience worry before. He put on his bike's helmet and revved his motorcycle's engine to drown out the wail of police sirens coming on the scene before kicking it into drive and speeding off after the convertible.


	6. Chapter 5

Logan made it back to the mansion in one piece after beating Sabertooth once more and making him only wish to mess with him or any of his team members again. He had taken longer to arrive home than usual to try and ease his pounding heart. The pounding thump had faded away into a constant throbbing pain that did not seem to go away, even with his long detour. Sasha's convertible was parked in the garage, a slight relief of the pain that was constantly in his chest, but it still ached like no tomorrow. The mutant proceeded to go inside of the mansion, but was quickly stopped by a bland scent in the air. Mystique. He growled and balled his fingers into a tight fist, ready for action again; however, the smell of the shape shifter had vanished without a trace. There was no way she was gone and he knew it, but he had bigger fish to fry with checking up on his teammate who had fallen out in his arms.

It was strange. He could smell the thick odor of cigarettes in the air of the mansion that nobody else could pick up on. Elf was in the kitchen piling copious amounts of filling on a sandwich and proceeding to squirt large quantities of condiments onto his next meal. Kurt had spoken to him, asking him is he was alright, but he just felt, mentally, as if he was out of his body and into another world full of that same cigarette smoke and corny 80s rock and roll music. He saw himself fuss at Kurt about eating too much before he would turn away and proceed to find out where the smell was coming from. The smoke in his head was a different story. It was as if the more he tried to figure out what it was from, the thicker the smoke got and the louder the music became. He could feel himself get frustrated causing a headache to form on the right side of his head, but he was not going to let this go away. He was tired of never having a clear memory, all he wanted was to be able to recall moments of his past, was that so damn hard? Charles had broken through other barriers, but this one just seemed hopeless. In an attempt to try and combat the smoke and haze, his mind went to the moment Sasha was placed in his arms on the battlefield and he could feel his arms, fingers, and chest just tingle the moment she touched him. As he walked down the halls, he looked and inspected his hands as if he was trying to figure out how he got to this point in his life.

"Mr. Logan?" Kitty's voice rang through his fog. "Mr. Logan, are you alright?"

He looked up to see the half pint looking up at him with worry in her eyes. A grunt came from his lips as he shook his head, "I'm fine. How's Sasha doing?"

Kitty smiled, "she's doing great; awake and everything! Right now she's talking with Mr. McCoy, I don't think you should interrupt though." She cupped her hands over her mouth, "they seem like they were a couple!"

Logan raised an eyebrow and proceeded to Sasha's room, trying to hide the fact that he was hurt the moment Kitty had said the word "couple". What was wrong with him? He had just met the girl, there was no way he could have feelings like this. His ears could pick up on the ring of laughter between Hank and Sasha, and his nose could pick up the strong aroma of cigarettes flowing out from underneath one of the room's door. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before banging on the door.

"We don't want any!" he could hear Sasha shout. He took that opportunity to open the door to reveal Sasha and Hank laughing like teenagers.

She had a cigarette in her hand as she sat on her dresser with the window open to try and hide the smoke, and was still wearing the off-the-shoulder dress that hugged her body tightly as well as black leggings underneath. A smile was painted on her lips as she wanted to reassure his temper than she was just joking with him and did not want him to catch a case with her. "You know you're welcome, Wolverine. Besides, you are an instructor of mine."

He huffed, "well this instructor is going to make you pay for that remark."

Hank shook his head, "I'll just leave you two alone." The intelligent mutant made his way out the door.

Logan pulled a chair away from the wall and straddled it in front of the dresser that the psionic mutant sat on, smoking away. She took a long drag of the cigarette before exhaling the smoke through her mouth and nose.

"What brings you to my Castle, Mr. Logan? Shouldn't you be tossing some poor child around like a ragdoll?"

He sneered, "I don't just single out children; I toss everybody with a pulse."

Her thin finger began to twirl one of her violet curls around her finger, "Well Papa, my back hurts and that freak probably broke a few ribs, but other than that I'm okay."

His chest tightened; teammates getting hurt was never good, but when it was because of his own demons, the beatings hurt more. His eyes followed her hand as she rubbed her side underneath her arm to check how her bruises were doing since she was still tender and swollen all over the place.

"It was weird," her arm reached out to bring a box of her cigarettes to her, pulling the white stick out and placing it between her lips. "He acted like I had stolen you from him, or something. You two have…_sexual _tension?"

Logan chuckled and shook his head, "you're really a glutton for punishment, aren't you?"

She exhaled her smoke out the window and shrugged to him, a look of innocence on her face, "my professors always said that I never thought about what I was going to say. I was the one who brightened their day!"

As they spoke, one of Sasha's cats, fat, grey, and fluffy, popped itself out from underneath the bed. The cat sniffed Logan's leg and proceeded to rub herself profusely against his calf, purring loudly and meowing. The mutant looked down and watched the animal leave a solid gray patch of shed onto his leg, he actually reached down and ran his rough hand down the cat's head and back. The cat meowed as he did in a loving bliss that she only showed to people she had known. His eye's zoomed on to her red collar with a pink heart engraved with the name Lilli. Funny, that name looked so familiar to him. The cat jumped up in his lap and proceeded to leave a trail of gray fur wherever she was. The cat meowed, loudly, her tail flicking back and forth before she dug her claws into Logan's thigh to prove that she was as happy as she could be. Logan's teeth gritted the moment her felt the animal's claws slightly penetrate his skin like a paper cut; however, he always had a soft spot for loving animals.

Sasha watched with curiosity as the cat made nice to the mutant in front of her. Lilli did not even come out when Hank was in the room, what made this man so special? She slid off the dresser to fetch her overly affectionate shedding, fur ball from her teacher before she turned his uniform into a walking ball of gray fluff. Logan held out his arm to keep her at bay.

"It's fine. I don't mind."

She placed her hands on her hip, throwing her bangs to the side with the flick of her neck, "you are better with animals than you are with people."

"Yeah well, people aren't exactly deserving of my ways."

She shook her head and slid back on her dresser, watching as her cat was essentially using Logan as her personal masseuse.

"She hasn't came out at all since I came here, except for when I'm in the room alone and she knows it. Heck, even my other cat is camping out in my dirty clothes hamper," her finger pointed at the fluffy, orange, black, and white head with lime green eyes peering from underneath a pair of jeans. "SHE'S even interested in you. They could have given a damn about Hank."

Logan grunted and placed the cat on the ground, running his hand down her back once more. He got up from his chair and brushed the fur from his suit. "My way with animals."

Sasha lifted the cigarette to her lips and inhaled the smoke, but quickly exhaled once he had gotten too close to the door. "Logan, wait."

He stopped, a look of confusion and his usual frustration with how people would end up getting close to him.

"Thanks for stopping by."

A small smile cracked through his tough guy appearance as he opened the door and made his way out before closing the door softly, not even realizing that he had smiled to her and that his stomach felt as if it was doing loops. He shook his head and began to think that spending some time at his favorite bar would make him feel better. Even though there was no way he could drink himself into a coma, he really hoped that maybe his hardened physique was failing since his stomach was bouncing all over the place. Before taking off, he changed out of his uniform into his street clothes, purposefully avoiding everybody on his way out.

Jean sat with Charles in his office, the air thick with tension and concern. The red-head was going over Sasha's performance on the battlefield and what she had experienced in Sasha's mind when she had used her powers. Jean was worried and was obviously stressed about her teammate's mind whenever it would link with Logan's. However, it was strange, whenever Jean was linked with Sasha's mind, her thoughts would always feel so much clearer and her powers so much more accessible to her. Maybe the professor was right in terms of mental prowess; she was much better at keep her emotions away from the battle field whenever she was linked to Sasha. Logan, on the other hand, was a sea of mental anguish, so it was almost certain that a beginner in psionic control would be overwhelmed. Charles was completely silent the entire time Jean was telling her story. Even he looked overly worried and concerned; but not because of the same reasons as Jean. He kept piecing together how he felt their minds intertwined in more ways than one. His mind could not help but linger on the oak tree that he saw in both of their minds meaning that they had to have shared a time together in the past.

"Professor, maybe Sasha should not link with Logan. It seems to do more harm than good." Jean spoke.

Charles turned his chair towards the door to address his pupil face to face, but instead saw the stout body of Logan dressed in his orange and black uniform standing in the now-opened doorway.

"That girls IS more harm than good." The mutant spoke, slamming the door behind him as he walked into the room.

"Logan what is the meaning of this?" Charles spoke.

The mutant began to morph from the muscular man, to a tall, shapely, athletic woman with dark blue skin and blood red hair. Her features were catlike, her golden yellow eyes filled with malice and hate for everyone, and everything, around her.

"Mystique? What brings you here?" Charles spoke, his hands folding nonchalantly in front of his face.

The woman crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I am here because you have our destruction running around in this place."

Jean attempted to read Mystique's mind but was quickly blocked and shunted out.

"DON'T even try, brat." Her index finger forced its way towards the red-headed girl, voice filled with venom. "I come here to bring a message to you _X-men_, so I would prefer my thoughts to remain to myself."

"You better state your case very well, Mystique. I am not exactly keen on somebody framing my students for something that they have not done." Charles' eyes narrowed, already not believing anything that would she would bring to the table.

Mystique growled, "Charles, I saw things when I was with Apocalypse. I saw the words that would bring on the death of the world. While the 'one who takes gives power to the chosen one, the one who gives takes away the breath of life'. I would not lie to you about this, especially when MY mutants are in the balance. She needs to be destroyed. Get rid of her."

Charles was obviously not amused. "Mystique, it is hard for me to take you seriously over as big of an issue as this."

The blue woman bore her teeth, her pupils turning into slits as she stared down the telepath. "You turn a blind eye to a problem when that problem lies in your own hands, but this time you can't just look away. Address her and destroy her in any way you see fit! She will be our destruction, YOURS and MINE. Get your head out of the clouds and wake up to the fact that not everything in a pretty package is good."

"Mystique, if you go after any one of my students-…"

The blue mutant kicked open Charles' office window, preparing herself to leave his presence. If he was not going to listen to her and take action, she was going to get rid of that nuisance in her own way, properly.

She perched on the edge of the window, chuckling to herself, a devilish look in her eyes. "Don't worry Charles. Your students will be just fine," her body morphed into a black raven, cawing loudly before flying away.

(Author's Note: School has started again and that might mean that I will either update less or update more depending on how badly my classes will kick my butt. If I take a little longer, don't fret! I still love you and I promise you all that I will update! I do not want this going down the toilet because of stinky homework. As usual, read, review, enjoy!)


	7. Chapter 6

The following few days after their bout with Sabertooth was marked by the normal weather change that indicated a new season was on the way. Meteorologists were reporting breezy days and the cooler temperatures, men and women were retiring their short shorts and tank tops for pants and t-shirts, some actually wearing long sleeved sweaters to keep the breezes from causing shivers and colds. The girls of the Xavier Institute were no different, especially Jean and Sasha who were dressed in jeans and long-sleeved shirts. Sasha and Jean were driving to get a bite down in the Theater District of New York city, but were now sitting in traffic due it being the weekend. They had just came from the Upper West Side where they attended a Biological Science Convention, so Jean could get a feel for what she would be getting into if she chose to study genetics in college. Through the beeping and the meaningless honking, Sasha carefully described her research with psionic mutants and how their powers are biologically chosen. The neuropsychiatrist knew that Jean was obviously uncomfortable when she mentioned experimentation on fellow mutants, but Sasha reassured her that all of her patients were there on their own freedom and completely had a hand in tests and experiments. She compared her work to how psychologists today worked with their patients and watched how their behavior worked or if they could do memory tasks. The most invasive procedure is a saliva sample of their DNA for her partners in genetics to study and tear the DNA genome to pieces.

"Would you work on other mutants too?" Jean asked.

Sasha combed her fingers through her thick curls and allowed them to bounce back into place behind her, "I have limited knowledge in the human genome; however, I do love to help my bud's in the genetics department whenever I have nothing to do."

"And you wouldn't have to do any invasive procedures on them?"

"Well," Sasha shook her head from side to side as if she was trying to piece together a nice way of revealing their jobs on mutants. "It depends on who gives you your paycheck."

Jean nodded, "some places get away with illegal human testing."

"Bingo."

"That's so sickening." The red-head shook her head in disgust. "How do places get away with that?"

"It's all a bunch of loopholes and exploitations in terms of laws you must abide by that is completely dependent on the state, province, or country you are in. I don't know how it exactly is in the state, but in Canada, mutant experimentation is allowed because mutants are not considered humans. They consider it to be like an epidemic that we need to find out about." Sasha obviously looked troubled.

"So a lab could get away with doing anything to mutants all in the name of research?"

"Yep. That's why I vowed that if my staff goes too far with my patients, I would resign that day with sabotaging their experiment. What is funny is that vow came before I even came to terms that I was a mutant." The older mutant looked to Jean with a smile on her face to reassure her that there were some people out there in the sciences that were decent people.

She could tell that Jean was second guessing herself a bit in terms of her future career paths.

"Jean, don't let the ignorant ones bring you down. There are still some scientists out there who believe that we are all humans and deserve to be treated as such."

The red-headed mutant looked at Sasha and saw that the woman was obviously agitated when she had to discuss the dark side of the people who employed scientists like her. She reached out and placed her hand on Sasha's shoulder, a silent connection forming when Sasha looked over and smiled to her. The silence was soon broken when Sasha belted out a stream of obscenities at a woman in a minivan trying to change lanes in front of her in all of this traffic. Jean could not help but laugh as Sasha fit right in with the New Yorker stereotype as she flung her middle finger up in the air and made sure that she was seen by the soccer mom.

After about an hour of horns honking, Sasha's fired up temper, and stalled cars, the two had broke through traffic and arrived at a small sushi bar with amazing atmosphere and a little Japanese man who treated the art of sushi as his life. Sasha had been to this place a few times before when she would travel to New York City, so this time would be no different. The tab was on her and the two girls were going to have so much seafood and rice that they were going to be swimming in it. The conversations between the two girls was mostly gossip and Jean telling how much she knew about the X-men that she felt comfortable telling. As she told the older woman about her teammates, she had in the back of her mind Mystique's voice rambling about what she had seen under Apocalypse. Jean still kept a smile on her face and continued to talk about the students to give Sasha more insight on who she was messing with.

"Wait," Sasha held up her hand and shifted her head to see past Jean's body to a table in the back corner of the small restaurant. "I think I see somebody to join us."

Her green eyes zoomed in to a muscular male with black hair cut in a flat top wearing a white 'I heart NY' shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. The table was covered in plates with all different types of sushi that he was engulfing down as if he was a living garbage disposal. Sasha licked her lips and twirled a lock of her loose curls around her thin index finger, her reaction causing Jean to turn around and take a look at her friend's prey.

"Oh Sasha, you need to get out of here!" Jean whispered.

Sasha leaned in close, "think I should go talk to him?"

Jean shook her head and covered her face with her hand, "I don't believe this but you can do what you-…" She was interrupted by the sound of a chair scooting across the floor and the tapping of heels on the ground. Jean looked up and over to see Sasha going boy crazy and using her touch of grace and charm to bring somebody else to their party.

Sasha had a bounce to her step, her hips sashaying from side to side in her skin-tight black jeans that would make any man drool for mercy. Her black platform heels made her legs look longer than a river and the baggy long sleeved shirt left the imagination to wander to places that would make a person melt. She was the queen of sex appeal and if she wanted it, she was going to get it.

"Hey there," her voice was cool once she came to his table, allowing her long violet hair to fall over her shoulder.

The man stopped eating and looked up to her with his big blue eyes, rice around his lips. He was speechless for a few seconds as he tried to swallow the copious amounts of rice and fish in a big gulp.

"Allo, miss." He had a thick Russian accent to his voice.

Foreigner. She liked that.

Sasha smiled, "mind if I have a seat?"

He shook his head and sat up, "no miss, please sit if you like!"

The man was exuberant about life; she could tell in his voice and feel it from his very presence. Sasha propped her head up on her hand, watching him clumsily use chopsticks to shovel rice in his mouth. He was like a big cute teddy bear that was oblivious to the world around him.

"I see you're a tourist."

He stopped eating, "da, how you know?"

She pointed to her own torso, "New Yorkers never wear those shirts, but don't fret, I'm not from here either."

The man perked up, "Really! Where is your homeland?"

"Canada."

"Not American, ah? It feel nice that I'm not alone in not being American, da? We share something!" He held out his large hand to her in a handshake, "I'm Piotr, you?"

She took his hand, watching as her hand disappeared in his fingers and shook gently. "Sasha."

He let go of her hand and nodded to her, "it's beautiful name to fit with beautiful face."

Sasha relished in his compliments with a smile, blush, and a few bats if her eye lashes. "Thank you Piotr, I must say you have a handsome name as well. You never said where you were from; however, I can assume from your accent…Eastern European? Slavic?"

"Da, from Mother Russia. Chilly there around this time, feels nice to be able to wear t-shirt and not seem as oddball." Piotr spoke, wiping his mouth of the rice.

Sasha's eyes widened, "you're tolerant to cold?"

"Hate coats," he sat up proudly and began to bang on his chest. "Very thick skin, it useful where I'm from."

"I have a friend I'm here with, could she join us? We can sit here so you can continue your feast."

Piotr nodded his head and watched as Sasha called over Jean and waved the red-head over to join the two. Jean looked over her shoulder and shook her head in amazement that a woman almost thirty years old with a doctorate in Neuroscience could be such a boy-chaser. It was like she was worse than Kitty and Kitty was only sixteen years old! Jean stood up from their table and moved towards the table in the back. As she got closer to the table she almost had a heart attack now that she had a better view of the man.

"Colossus?"

Piotr's eyes widened, "you are X-men I worked with, da? I am sorry, I do not remember your name, mine is Piotr now that we are not trying to kill each other." He held out his hand for her to shake it.

Jean took his hand and shook it gently, "it's Jean. Jean Grey. What are you doing here? Where is Magneto?"

He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, a dismal look on his face. "After Apocalypse, I had X-men take me back to Russia to see if he returned my sister to me. She not was not there, so I came to America to find her."

Jean pulled up a chair at the table and sat down beside Sasha, the doctor looking confused at the entire situation.

"You two know each other?" Sasha asked, plucking a sushi roll from one of Piotr's plates.

"It was out battle with Apocalypse; Mr. McCoy probably told you about it. We worked with Piotr him to stop him. After the battle, I was exhausted and I needed my rest. I didn't know we had dropped you off in Russia." Jean rubbed her forehead, trying to see if she could remember anything after Apocalypse; however, it was all a blur.

Piotr scratched his head, "you slept for long time. I have never ever seen person sleep so long."

Jean chuckled, "Did Magneto have something to do with your sister?"

The larger man's face became solemn as he thought about his own flesh and blood taken away from him in an act of bribery.

"Da, he-…he took my sister, Illyana, from me so I would work for him. Magneto said that if I lent him my strength, he would give me my sister. But, no, no, after Apocalypse, he disappeared and left me without my Illyana!"

His fist slammed on the table causing the girls to jump. Sasha reached out and rested her hand on Piotr's, comforting him. The large man looked down at her hand upon his and followed the arm to Sasha's caring eyes staring at him. A small smile formed on his lips as he put his hand on top of hers.

"We can help you find her, Piotr. I promise that the X-men will do everything we can to bring your sister back to us." Jean spoke, her voice full of the loving care that she always had when speaking to somebody.

Piotr shook his head and lowered it, avoiding any eye contact with the girls. He was afraid that he would be betrayed again, and be back, once again, at square one. He was about to decline their offer until he felt Sasha's hand slip in between his fingers and her pinky wrap around his own. His eyes widened and turned to the violet haired mutant with a smirk on her face and a twinkle in eye.

"We're not going to throw you under the bus, Piotr; that's dirty and we don't work like that." Sasha squeezed his pinky finger tighter, his eyes filling with a hope.

Piotr had to hold back his tears, but he was cheerful that he did not feel as if he had to be forced into tagging along with a group that might betray him. The girls seemed genuine, and he had been trotting around New York City for months with no leads from anybody. The large Russian nodded as if it was his way of accepting their offer and that he would finally get the help that he deserved.

"Da, da, thank you, girls. Thank you for help. All I want is to find Illyana, thank you for helping me get through this; however, I can't leave with you now."

Sasha perked up in confusion, "why not?"

Piotr stood up from the table and threw some money on it as well as a tip. "I have some leads, and I want to go at this one alone. I will find you girls again."

He took his leave from the sushi restaurant, leaving the girls to themselves. Sasha watched as he left the place, her eyes on his backside. She could not help but do a soft wolf whistle to herself before turning back to the table once he was out of the place.

"He's a cutie pie."

Jean looked partially disturbed due to the fact Sabertooth had attacked them Colossus was by himself, and Magneto was nowhere to be found. Sasha's voice broke her out of her world of speculations.

"What's up?"

Jean shook her head, "one of our old combats has essentially gone rogue. I didn't piece it together when Sabertooth attacked you, but now that we saw him…I'm not sure."

Sasha leaned in close, "think we should tell Charles?"

The red head nodded and stood up from the table, "c'mon. If the Professor does not know about this, we should tell him. Maybe do some searching on your new crush's sister?"

Sasha scoffed and stood up beside her, "I'm too old for crushes. I have flings and he would be a fun ride." She flung her hair over her shoulder before she lead the two out of the restaurant.


End file.
